


Lumpy Laryngitis

by sarahgirl1998



Category: Happy Tree Friends
Genre: Comedy, Coughing, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Illnesses, Sick Character, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 12:31:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18992719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahgirl1998/pseuds/sarahgirl1998
Summary: Lumpy wakes up with laryngitis and asks Sniffles to help him feel better.





	1. Chapter 1

It was a cool morning in the forest where the Happy Tree Friends lived. As he had been the night before, Lumpy was still sleeping in his bed. About an hour after the sun had gone up, however, his eyes slowly opened as he woke. Judging by how light it was in his room, he could already tell the morning had come.

Lumpy sat up in his bed and gave a deep, quiet yawn into his hand. But after he finished, he needed to cough, so he released a few of them into that same hand. They weren’t satisfying at all, but rather painful. Lumpy then put his hand down and groaned slightly. He rubbed his throat gently with his other hand.

For some reason, his throat was aching all over. It wasn’t how it sometimes did in the morning, either; the back of his throat did, too. Aside from the pain, it felt like he had a burning desert just beyond his mouth. Maybe what he needed was some water.

Lumpy stepped out of bed and slowly walked into the bathroom, coughing some more along the way. He washed out a nearby glass with warm water, then filled it up almost completely with colder water. Then as he gulped down the glass, he cringed internally as the water made its way down his throat. It wasn’t helping the pain go away; in fact, it was probably making it worse.

Lumpy finished his water and panted repeatedly, clutching his throat again after he’d put down his cup. He didn’t feel so good at all. What was the matter with his throat? Lumpy thought about what he could do. Suddenly an idea came to him.

After taking a shower, brushing his teeth and putting on deodorant, Lumpy walked out of his front door and looked up at the sky. It was a clear and warm day - not the best weather to have such bad symptoms, he thought. Lumpy walked away from his house, coughing as he did so. He sometimes cleared his throat, but that didn’t do much, either.

A few minutes of walking and coughing later, Lumpy made it to Sniffles’ house. Surely his anteater friend could help him feel better. Lumpy stepped up to the front door and pressed his forefinger against the doorbell, causing the chimes to play.

Less than a minute had gone by before the door was pulled open to reveal Sniffles.

“Oh, good morning, Lumpy!” he greeted him with a smile. “It’s so good to see you this early in the morning. Come on in!”

Sniffles moved out of the way so Lumpy could come into the house. He did so, loudly clearing his throat along the way. Upon hearing it, Sniffles raised an eyebrow.

“Um, Lumpy? Are you alright?”

“...n-no...” Lumpy replied in an extremely hoarse, raspy voice. It sounded almost nothing like Sniffles was used to hearing from him.

Sniffles gasped in surprise. “L-Lumpy! What happened to your voice?!”

Lumpy coughed into his fist, then rolled his eyes involuntarily. He tried to talk, but his croaky voice made him hard to understand, so he had to point to his throat to help Sniffles get the message. “...it hurts... here...”

“You mean your throat?” Sniffles asked, and Lumpy nodded weakly. “I think I’ll have to take a look in your mouth.”

Lumpy wanted to speak again, but his throat simply hurt too much. He just gave another nod. Sniffles picked up a small flashlight, then walked Lumpy to the couch. Once he had made it there, he switched on the flashlight.

“Open your mouth and say ah,” said Sniffles.

Lumpy did both of those, but the latter action came out sounding more like a growl. Sniffles looked into Lumpy’s mouth, holding the flashlight in his hand as he did so. There was a massive amount of redness and swelling in the back of Lumpy’s unfortunate throat. Sniffles’ pupils shrunk in disbelief.

“Oh, my goodness...” Sniffles said to himself. He knew what this meant. He stopped looking into Lumpy’s mouth, turned off his flashlight and put it aside. “We may need to take your temperature, Lumpy.”

Lumpy raised an eyebrow at his comment, but otherwise didn’t complain. Sniffles briefly left the living room, then came back with a digital thermometer. He inserted it underneath Lumpy’s tongue as they waited. Lumpy had to use as much willpower as possible to not cough, but his throat was begging for it to happen.

Finally, the thermometer beeped, and Sniffles pulled it out. Lumpy started coughing again, but he made sure to cover his mouth while Sniffles looked at the thermometer.

When the poor moose was done releasing all of the coughs his throat needed him to, Sniffles told him his temperature. “It’s 101.1. I’m afraid you’re running a little fever, Lumpy.”

“Oh, no...” Lumpy groaned. It wasn’t very audible, but Sniffles knew he was dismayed.

“I think what’s going on is that you have laryngitis,” said Sniffles.

“Laryn-what now?” Lumpy asked, not understanding what he meant.

“It’s an illness that involves your voice box becoming inflamed,” said Sniffles. “That’s why your voice is like that. It hurts your throat quite a bit, too.”

“Oh...” Lumpy bent his head down, took a small breath and sighed in sadness.

“Luckily, it doesn’t look too severe,” Sniffles went on. “I’d say it’s a case of acute viral laryngitis. You know what I think? You should get some rest, drink lots of water and try not to talk too much.”

Lumpy nodded in understanding. He had agreed with Sniffles before he even finished talking. Then Lumpy lay down on the couch, his head resting on one arm of the couch. Not surprised that he would choose this place to rest, Sniffles pulled out a large blanket and covered Lumpy with it. Now only his head and arms were visible.

“I’ll make sure you get better, Lumpy. I promise.” Sniffles smiled reassuringly at him. “But as with any illness such as this, rest and care come first.”

Lumpy rubbed his sore throat once again.

“How would you like some bottles of water?” Sniffles suggested. “I’ve got some in the fridge right now.”

Lumpy smiled when he heard that and nodded, letting Sniffles know that was what he wanted. Sniffles then turned and headed into the kitchen to bring Lumpy his waters.

Lumpy stayed on the couch, coughing slightly from how sore his throat was. It hadn’t gotten any better than it was this morning. As he thought over how his laryngitis could get worse, he felt a tickle in his nose. Hopefully this was from something in the air and not his virus.

“Aah... Htchoo!” Lumpy released a tiny sneeze that not only was hard to hear, but when he let it out, it felt like his throat was calling out for something to relieve its pain. On the plus side, there was no spray or mucus coming out of his mouth or nose during the sneeze.

Lumpy gave a quiet groan, then rubbed his nose slowly and gently with his forefinger. Just then, Sniffles came walking into the room with two bottles of water, and judging by his ill friend’s action, he could already tell that Lumpy had sneezed.

“Bless you,” said Sniffles.

Lumpy sniffled mildly and kept rubbing his nose, but also smiled at Sniffles to show his thanks. Sniffles placed one bottle of water on the coffee table in front of the couch, then handed the other bottle to Lumpy.

“Here you go,” said Sniffles.

Lumpy removed the lid from the bottle and started to drink it down. Before it was even halfway empty, however, he had to stop and pull the bottle away. He panted and coughed a couple of times, to Sniffles’ concern.

“What’s wrong?” Sniffles asked. “Does it hurt when you swallow?” Lumpy nodded sadly. “Oh, I’m sorry... then again, that’s something you should expect when you have laryngitis.”

After a couple of minutes, Lumpy resumed drinking his water. His throat still burned as the water made its way into his stomach, but he had to deal with it if he wanted it to help. Soon the bottle was empty and Lumpy sighed as he removed it from his mouth.

“There you go,” Sniffles said gently. He took the bottle from Lumpy and briefly walked away from him. Close to the doorway to the kitchen was a recycling bin in which Sniffles dropped the empty bottle. Then he went back to Lumpy. “I’m sure a nap will help you feel better, too.”

Lumpy nodded at the idea and lay back down on the couch, with his head again making contact with the arm of the couch. But Sniffles took a cushion from the other end of the couch and showed it to Lumpy.

“Allow me.” Sniffles placed the cushion behind Lumpy’s head, separating it from the arm of the couch. Lumpy sighed in relief as Sniffles fluffed the cushion with both hands.

“This is a cotton cushion, by the way,” said Sniffles. “So you don’t have to worry about any feathers coming out and landing on your nose or anything like that.”

Lumpy smiled in response, then yawned into his hand. He turned over on his side as Sniffles rubbed his shoulder gently, making him feel even more comfortable.

“Sweet dreams, Lumpy. And feel better,” Sniffles said softly.

Before he knew it, Lumpy’s eyelids had fallen closed, and he’d begun to snore quietly. Sniffles smiled, then turned and walked out of the living room as quietly as he could. He planned to give Lumpy some throat medicine when he woke up. Surely that would help his laryngitis even more.


	2. Chapter 2

After what felt like three hours of napping, Lumpy finally woke up and opened his eyes. He sat up on the couch and rubbed one of his eyes with his hand. Almost as soon as he finished, he broke into a coughing fit that lasted almost ten seconds, and every hack and cough brought pain to his poor throat. When it finally passed, Lumpy sighed in discomfort. He still had his laryngitis.

He looked up at the clock on the wall. It was almost noon. Just then, Lumpy’s stomach growled, and he rubbed it ever so gently with his hand. He wanted something to eat, but given how awful his throat felt, his choices were limited.

After a couple of minutes, Sniffles came into the living room. Lumpy held his second water bottle in his hands, gulping from it like a baby. Sniffles walked up to him and felt his forehead. It still felt warm.

“I don’t think your fever’s gone down yet,” Sniffles said as Lumpy pulled his now empty water bottle out of his mouth. “But are you feeling any better?”

Lumpy shook his head in denial, and released a few more loud coughs into his hand.

Sniffles sighed in sympathy. “You poor thing... you sound terrible.” But then he got an idea and smiled. “How would you like me to make you some chicken noodle soup.”

Lumpy smiled as well and nodded. But then he held up a forefinger to let Sniffles know he needed something else.

“Oh? What is it, Lumpy?” Sniffles wanted to know.

Lumpy pointed to his nose and sniffled loudly. His nose had become stuffy. Sniffles knew what he wanted and handed him a brand new box of tissues.

Lumpy smiled as he pulled out a tissue and rubbed it against his nose, not wanting to blow his nose since he hadn’t sneezed yet. After a couple failed attempts to unclog his nose, Lumpy pointed to Sniffles and made a tickling gesture to his nose.

Sniffles smiled, took a different tissue and twisted one of its corners into a point. He inserted the tip of the twisted tissue into Lumpy’s nostril and tickled the insides of his nostril gently.

Lumpy’s eyelids fell halfway as his nostrils flared, with the nostril that had the tissue inside of it flaring the most. He inhaled three times, quietly but desperately, and then shot his neck forwards with a realistic sneeze.

“Hhh-kshhhh!” The sneeze wasn’t too forceful, but the nostril that had just been tickled blew the tissue right out. And from that same nostril oozed a bit of greenish mucus. Lumpy picked up the tissue he’d tried to use earlier and blew his nose into it, then rubbed it with his forefinger.

“Gesundheit,” said Sniffles.

Lumpy smiled at Sniffles and continued to rub his nose. Then he balled up his used tissue and threw it away.

“If you need something to make you sneeze again, just let me know,” said Sniffles. “If you ask me, all it takes is just you pointing at your nose to let me know you want to sneeze.”

Lumpy didn’t know what to say, so he just nodded.

“But if you get bored, here’s the remote,” Sniffles said as he handed the remote control to Lumpy, “so you can watch TV.”

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go make your soup.” Sniffles then turned and walked out of the living room.

Lumpy pressed the power button on the TV and switched it on, just as his favorite episode of a rather unknown show began. Lumpy watched the episode, surviving the tedious ads in between the episode’s segments. They didn’t bother him as much as his throat. Lumpy couldn’t help but cough and wheeze as he watched the episode.

After about ten minutes, Sniffles came in with a tray that had a bowl of hot chicken soup on it. He placed the tray on Lumpy’s lap and handed him a plastic spoon.

“If chicken soup can help a cold, why wouldn’t it help laryngitis?” Sniffles asked. He didn’t get an answer, but it was a rhetorical question anyway.

Lumpy took the spoon, dipped it into the bowl to collect a little soup, and then took it into his mouth. He blew on the spoon, then sipped it, swallowed, then smiled. But as the soup made its way down his throat, he couldn’t help but cough a few times. Sniffles had to help keep the tray steady so he wouldn’t spill his lunch.

“I know it’s hard to swallow when you’re this sick,” Sniffles stated. “But I’ll do my best to help you.”

Lumpy smiled and continued eating his soup. He tried to be as careful as he could to make sure each spoonful was cool enough to not hurt his throat. Despite all of the hacking and coughing he had to go through during his lunch, he managed to eat all of it.

Lumpy handed the tray back to Sniffles as he rubbed his belly, licking his lips.

“I’m glad you liked it!” said Sniffles. “Hope it helps that poor throat of yours...”

Lumpy nodded in agreement, then rubbed the end of his congested nose with the side of his hand. A few stuffy sniffles emerged from his nostrils. Sniffles briefly went into the kitchen to put Lumpy’s bowl and spoon in the dishwasher, then came back in without the tray. Lumpy was still rubbing his nose.

“You’ll need to take some medicine if you’d like your stuffy nose to go away,” Sniffles stated. Then he reached behind his back. “But lucky for you...” He pulled out a flask filled with a light green fluid. “...I’ve got a stuffy nose cure right here!”

He handed the flash to Lumpy, who appreciatively drank down every drop of the fluid. It tasted like a mint-flavored drink. Lumpy then handed the flask back to Sniffles, who put it aside for the moment now that it was empty. Lumpy took sniff after sniff for a few seconds, and finally took a deep sniffle and sighed in relief. His nose had been cleared.

“Thank you,” said Lumpy, as clearly as his throat would let him.

“You’re welcome, Lumpy,” Sniffles replied with a smile. “But keep in mind, there may be a side effect after you finish it...”

Lumpy raised an eyebrow at first, but suddenly his nostrils flared up as he felt a tickle in his nose. Taking a quick breath, Lumpy pulled his hands over his mouth and sneezed into them. Unfortunately for Lumpy, his laryngitis rendered his sneeze barely audible.

“Kshhhh!”

“And it looks like it’s started already,” Sniffles said.

Lumpy rubbed his nose briefly with his forefinger, then released another sneeze into his hands.

“Ah-ktchhhh!” As soon as this next sneeze had passed, another one escaped. “Hhh-tshhhhh!”

“Bless you,” said Sniffles as Lumpy rubbed his nose again with his forefinger. “I’m afraid that stuffy nose cure will make your nose tickle for quite a few minutes. The best thing to do is be patient and wait until enough time passes.”

Lumpy gave a tiny sniffle, then let out another sneeze. “Hah-tchhhhoo!” Placing his forefinger under his nose, Lumpy pulled out a tissue. Just as he pulled his forefinger away, he inhaled a couple of times, then released a small fit of sneezes into his tissue.

“Hhh-hhhh... tchhhh! Hitchhhh! Etshhh! Htshhhh! Hhh... hhhiiitssssshhhhhoo!”

That final sneeze was considerably wetter than the others. Lumpy wiped his nose with his soaked tissue as he sniffled repeatedly.

“Bless you,” Sniffles said again. “And I’m sorry.”

“D-don’t be sorry...” Lumpy said, then sneezed again. This sneeze was so quiet and mild, it might as well have been whispered. “Hah-tchoo...”

Sniffles couldn’t help but giggle when he heard that sneeze. It sounded quite cute.

“Awww, bless you, Lumpy.”

Lumpy rubbed his nose with his forefinger, sniffling as he did so. Then he balled up his used tissue, pulled out another one and covered his nose with it just as he sneezed again.

“Ah... choo...!”

More giggling from Sniffles. Lumpy blew his nose lightly and rubbed it just as gently.

“I gotta say, Lumpy, your tiny sneezes are adorable!” said Sniffles.

Lumpy blushed in response, then let out two more sneezes into his hand.

“Htchu... tchioo...!”

About two minutes of sneezes later, the side effect of Sniffles’ stuffy nose cure finally subsided. Lumpy sighed in relief and rubbed his nose gently with his forefinger.

“Bless you, Lumpy.” Sniffles giggled.

“Thanks...” Lumpy replied quietly. He blew his nose and wiped it with a tissue, then lay back down on the couch. Sniffles tucked him in to make him extra comfortable.

“Again, I’m sorry I made you sneeze as much as you did,” Sniffles told him. “But thanks for forgiving me, Lumpy.”

Lumpy brought a hand up to yawn into. He was looking forward to going to sleep, even though it wasn’t even bedtime yet.

“Feel free to sleep as long as you’d like, Lumpy. You need your rest,” said Sniffles. Suddenly he got an idea, then pulled out a stuffed rabbit toy. “Would you like to take a nap with this?”

Lumpy nodded as Sniffles gave him the rabbit toy, which Lumpy proceeded to hug lovingly.

“And if there’s anything else you need from me, all you have to do is ask,” Sniffles finished. “Nighty-night, Lumpy.”

Lumpy’s eyes fell closed as he went to sleep, his toy rabbit in his arms. Once again, Sniffles slowly sneaked out of the room to give Lumpy some quiet.

Lumpy inhaled and exhaled through his nose as he took his nap. He felt so comfortable, what with that soft pillow under his head, the warm blankets over his body, and the plush bunny rabbit in his arms. Not long after he’d gone to sleep, however, he smelled a little dust, causing the end of his snout to tickle. The dust must have been from the bunny. Lumpy inhaled and released one of the quietest sneezes he’d ever let out.

“Ah-choo!” Still asleep, Lumpy rubbed his nose with his forefinger and then drifted off into a series of nice dreams.

The dreams were a bit surreal, but satisfying. Lumpy couldn’t remember most of them, with the exception of the fact that all of them involved him in some way. He did, however, remember a dream where he’d won the lottery and spent all of his winnings on food. Not that he would do that if he won in real life, no matter how hungry he was.

When Lumpy opened his eyes again, the room had become dark. The sun wasn’t out anymore; instead, Lumpy saw the moon in a dark blue sky. Night had fallen. How long had he slept?

Lumpy squinted his eyes as he looked up at the clock, struggling to read it due to the lack of light. It was almost midnight. Lumpy had slept for almost twelve hours. Lumpy lay back down on the couch and tried to go back to sleep.

Suddenly, something occurred to him. The pain in his throat had gone away. Was he over his laryngitis? Lumpy placed his hand on his forehead, but he didn’t feel warm. But if he had recovered from his laryngitis, this wasn’t the time to celebrate. Before long, Lumpy’s eyelids fell closed and he went back to sleep.

Eventually, the sun started to rise as the moon went down. The living room began to fill with that familiar morning light. Lumpy was still sleeping, but he awoke before the clock had reached seven. He sat up, stretched his arms and rubbed his eyes. Then he took a deep breath through his nose and sighed in satisfaction. His nose hadn’t gotten stuffy as it did yesterday.

“I... I think I’ve gotten better...” Lumpy said, his voice having returned. He didn’t realize it until that had already been said. A huge smile appeared on his face as a result. “Hey! My voice is back!”

Not long after he’d said that, Sniffles came walking down the stairs and entered the living room.

“Good morning, Lumpy!” said Sniffles as he walked over to Lumpy. “How are you feeling today?”

“What do you think?” Lumpy replied.

Sniffles’ eyes widened and pupils shrunk as he gasped in joyful surprise. Lumpy sounded just like he remembered him sounding.

“Lumpy, you sound like you’ve recovered!” Sniffles said. Then he picked up his flashlight from the day before. “But may I look into your throat, just to make sure?”

“Oh, of course,” said Lumpy. He then opened his mouth as Sniffles switched on his flashlight and looked into Lumpy’s throat.

All of the redness had gone. Sniffles switched the flashlight off and pulled it away from Lumpy. Then he felt his forehead, but it didn’t feel warm.

“No fever, either? Oh, Lumpy, you DID recover! I can’t believe it! It’s a miracle!”

“Yeah. Thank goodness,” Lumpy replied. “Sniffles, thank you so much for taking care of me and making my sick day a good one.”

“Oh, you’re welcome, Lumpy,” Sniffles replied. “I was happy to help.”

“However...” Sniffles felt a bit of soreness in his throat, so he cleared his throat. It didn’t work. “I did spend an awful lot of time with you while you were...” A mild cough then emerged from Sniffles. “...under the weather.”

“Yeah, so?” Lumpy asked.

“Well, laryngitis is as... ahem, contagious as a cold, so...” Sniffles’ voice suddenly broke, and then he gave a few loud coughs into his fist. “Uuugh...”

“Sniffles?!” Lumpy asked in concern. “What’s wrong?”

“L-Lumpy? I don’t... feel... so good...” Sniffles squeaked out, no longer audible. He rubbed his throat with his hand.

“Uh-oh,” said Lumpy, realizing what was happening. He quickly felt Sniffles’ forehead, but it was a little warm. “Sniffles, I think... I think you’ve gotten sick, too!”

Sniffles only nodded in agreement and coughed again, followed by a silent groan.

Lumpy removed his blankets from his body and stood up from the couch. Before long, Sniffles had already lay down on the couch, his head resting on the cotton pillow. Lumpy tucked him in with the blankets.

“I guess it’s my turn to take care of you, Sniffles,” said Lumpy.

Sniffles tried to talk, but the only thing he could say was a barely audible, “I know.”

“But I’ll make sure you’re as happy as possible,” Lumpy then told him. “I promise.” He patted Sniffles’ shoulder to comfort him.

Sniffles smiled at him, but then his trunk twitched a couple of times. He needed to sneeze. Lumpy, knowing what was going to happen, stood back and covered his face with his arm. But Sniffles released such a quiet sneeze that it almost sounded fake.

“Hhh-tchyiu!” Shaking his head for a brief moment, Sniffles then rubbed under his trunk with his forefinger as he sniffled.

“Bless you,” said Lumpy as he put his arm down.

Sniffles would have thanked him, but since he couldn’t talk without sounding like a totally different person, he didn’t. Lumpy handed him a tissue and watched him rub his trunk with it.

“I’ll get you some waters to help you feel better,” Lumpy said. “Would you like that?”

Sniffles nodded, and so Lumpy got up and went into the kitchen. Sniffles, on the other hand, stayed on the couch. He may have caught Lumpy’s laryngitis, but it was alright. He considered it a reward for helping Lumpy feel better so quickly. Hopefully, he would recover and gain his voice back just as quickly as Lumpy did.

And unbeknownst to him, Lumpy was hoping the exact same thing.


End file.
